The eye-catching Realme GT’s yellow-and-black color scheme, as well as Realme’s frequent assertions that the phone is a “flagship” because it features the top Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset, are impossible to ignore. However, a phone must have more than just a fast processor to impress, and while the phone’s other stats are adequate, they aren’t exceptional. The Realme GT has the looks and the speed, but is that enough to make it a worthwhile purchase?
Price and availability
The Realme GT is a tough device to find — it’s theoretically available in the UK, but only through AliExpress, an importer. It’s not yet available in Australia or the United States, and Realme’s track record suggests that the former is more likely than the latter.
If you order the phone through AliExpress, it will most likely take a long time to arrive because you’ll be importing it, and you’ll have to watch out for non-official and false listings. The Realme GT is not available from more reputable sellers such as Amazon or any official carriers.
When you compare it to the Surface or MacBook lineups, you can see how impressed we are with the Pixelbook and how far Google has progressed with the Chromebook platform since its debut. It’s simply outstanding. It all depends on whether you’re willing to go all-in on Chrome OS and fork over a thousand dollars for the privilege.
When you go to buy the phone, you’ll be shown a UK equivalent based on the current exchange rate because AliExpress exclusively utilizes euro pricing. The official price starts at $550.
Design
The Realme GT has a striking appearance, with a yellow faux-leather back that is broken up by a black glass strip that trails down from the camera bump (on the phone we examined). This appears to be the phone’s most prominent ‘grand tourer’ influence, suggesting the image of racing stripes, and its striking design.
There’s also a non-leather version of the phone in silver or blue that won’t attract as much attention. If you don’t like leather phones for ethical reasons, don’t worry: the Realme GT’s ‘fake’ leather is vegan.
The Realme GT is a little more traditional in terms of smartphone design, but there are still certain things to enjoy about it. With dimensions of 158.5 x 73.3 x 8.4mm and a weight of 186g, it’s a tad on the small side compared to the plethora of super-sized Android phones that currently fill store shelves. It isn’t insignificant, but it is below average.
The power button is located on the right edge of the phone, while the volume rocker is located on the opposite edge. The phone also sports a 3.5mm headphone socket and a USB-C port, which will please wired-headphone lovers. The power button is located on the phone’s right edge, while the volume rocker is located on the phone’s left edge. A 3.5mm headphone socket and a USB-C port are also included on the phone, which will please users.
Display
The Realme GT sports a 6.43-inch screen with a punch-hole cutout in the top-left corner for the front camera. Because there isn’t much of a bezel, the screen takes up most of the front of the gadget.
The colors are vivid and vibrant, with good contrast, on this screen, which employs Super AMOLED technology, albeit it can be difficult to view in direct sunlight (an issue we encountered).The screen resolution is 1080 x 2400, which is very standard for a smartphone and will suffice for streaming, gaming, and social media scrolling.
The Realme GT’s 120Hz display, which means the screen image updates 120 times per second, is something you don’t typically see at this price point. The previous norm was 60Hz, and many phones still use it, but the update here ensures that action is smooth and fluid. The screen on the Realme GT is good for the price, and it’s more than adequate for whatever you’ll be using it for.
Cameras
The Realme GT boasts three rear cameras and one front camera: a 64MP main camera, an 8MP ultra-wide camera, and a 2MP macro camera on the back, and a 16MP camera for selfies and video calls on the front.
Thanks to the post-processing beauty features, images produced with the front camera appeared quite brilliant – possibly a touch too bright at times, as snaps appeared a little fake. You can correct this to some extent by adjusting the beauty settings, but if you’re just taking selfies to post on social media, it’s acceptable.
The photos captured with the main camera are good, but not exceptional. They’re detailed, and photographs taken in ideal lighting appeared bright and clear, but several photos exhibited symptoms of oversharpening, while highlights in others were overexposed, and the camera failed to focus on close subjects at times.
When compared to images we’ve taken on other phones at this budget, the ultra-wide photos were quite impressive, with very little distortion. The images were brilliant, and the field of vision was much larger than in snaps taken with the primary camera, thanks to the 119-degree angle of the lens.
There isn’t a telephoto lens for zoom photos, which is a shame because we’d be happier with the camera’s performance if it had one instead of the macro lens. You can digitally zoom up to 10 times, but images beyond 2x become too grainy to be worth it.
